Guardian
by Auron Belmont
Summary: Auron and Tidus have an arrangement. Auron doesn't act like a loving parent and Tidus doesn't act like a loving son. However, when 10-year-old Tidus runs into a problem he can't handle, can Auron remain coldly aloof to what's happening? A sequel to the story Promise.


Auron could only ignore the near whining of Tidus for so long. He set down his paper and looked at the kid who constantly demanded so much of his attention.

Tidus stared back with blue eyed intensity. At almost ten years old he possessed more energy than Auron could ever hope to have. When he wasn't in school, he was off with friends, playing shoreline blitz and attempting to tackle homework.

Annoying but it secretly pleased Auron. Having jumped through multiple hoops of adoption, proving himself, taking classes (who teaches classes to parents?) and showing everyone the seriousness of his intentions, the orphanage gave in. Auron now was Tidus' legal guardian. They lived together in a new houseboat.

When he'd asked Tidus where he wanted to live, Tidus surprised him by saying he didn't want to return to his old house. So it stayed in a special dry dock for the day Tidus would be a legal adult to decide its fate.

That suited Auron just fine. Both of them starting off in a new home proved to be better. So he was allowed to decorate the house however he wanted and in exchange, he let Tidus decorate his room however he wanted. Auron didn't want to see any trace of Jecht unless it was time for the ultimate plan to unfold. It could be years or it could be never. He didn't know.

For now, more mundane matters took precedence. Like the kid in front of him trying not to have a fit. "What do you want, Tidus?"

"Finally! That paper isn't that good that you can't hear me talking to you!"

Auron smiled a little. "You'd be surprised."

Tidus scowled. "Not funny. Anyway, I'm going to be ten in two weeks. You said if my grades were really good, I could have a party."

"I did. But how do I know about your grades?"

"This!" A sealed envelope sailed into Auron's lap. "See? I didn't even look at them so you can't say I cheated."

"You _are _serious about this party." Auron ripped the top off and read the card. "Let's see..."

He had to bite his tongue not to smile at how anxious the kid looked, fidgeting where he stood. Grades had been a serious problem for a while, with his school year interrupted by the deaths of both his parents and trying to deal with his anger about it. This set for the semester showed a vast improvement. _"Tidus sometimes has trouble concentrating in class. He looks like he daydreams a lot. But when he focuses his attention on his schoolwork, he is a bright boy."_

Not exactly a glowing report, but it was a lot better than before. Tidus' grades had improved for nearly every subject. _Kid still can't figure out math, but he's doing passable._ Auron leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his stubbled chin.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

The kid almost stomped his foot before stopping himself. "Auron, did you see the grades? Did they look okay?"

"Go get me a piece of paper and a pen."

"What?"

"You heard me."

One piece of paper and one pen were snatched from a junk drawer in the kitchen and nearly thrown in front Auron. "There! What do you need this for?"

Though his high collar and shades hid a lot of his expression, Auron's eyes crinkled at the corners. "If we're going to have a party, we're going to need to write down a list of who you want to invite and what we should have, right?"

"Yessss!" Tidus whooped and danced around the living room. "I'm gonna have a party! I'm gonna have a party! It's gonna be the best party in Zanarkand!"

"I don't think I'd go that far. How about the best party in this houseboat?"

"Well...okay." He scooted a chair up to the table. "Auron? If we're gonna have a party, does that mean I can get the present I really want?"

For the last few months, Auron watched Tidus count down to the day he turned 10. For any other kid, turning 10 was just another birthday. Fun to look forward to, but usually not with such fervor. That is, if the kid in question wasn't a blitzball fanatic.

Under the athletic leagues controlling the sport, participants couldn't join any youth teams until the age of 12. However, training and practice for the sport could officially begin at age 10. Blitzball required a lot of breath control to play and hold a breath for an entire half inside the dome.

Auron and Tidus played shoreline blitz for the past two and half years and it helped to build a foundation. Now the real start of any career began with official practice. Although anyone could start doing breath training in a pool or with the help of someone who knew the sport, a thorough regimen involved an official school. Most were reasonably priced. Others not so much. Depending on which school Tidus chose, Auron hoped to be able to budget their funds enough to pay for it.

"Joining a blitzball school? Only if you do some research and show me how serious you are," he replied. There were at least ten top tier schools and countless second-tier schools for blitz. Even knowing a bit more about the sport than he did when he was alive, Auron had no idea which ones were better or would even work for Tidus.

"I will! I really will! Auron, I really really really want to join a school. I'll do all the work and we can pick the best one. Okay? You promise?" Tidus looked him with his big blue eyes.

"Stop with the staring. I promise we can go try out a school if I can afford it."

"Okay." The kid's grin nearly split his face in two.

* * *

They'd never sat down to talk about it, but Auron and Tidus fell into a routine. Auron didn't try to pretend to be a parent and Tidus didn't have to act like a loving son. Living together became an odd business arrangement. Auron brought in the money to keep them housed and fed and Tidus worked on his grades and tried not to cause too much trouble. As long as Tidus kept up his grades and kept himself in line, Auron would in turn financially provide for Tidus' dream of being a blitz player. Since Auron didn't know what teaching Tidus would need, he left the arrangements to Tidus.

So, after a successful birthday party that left Tidus' friends happy and Auron not having to strangle any young children, Tidus presented the findings of his research.

"So this is the school you're interested in?" Auron gave a glance at the brochure.

"Yeah! A lot of famous players started in this school. It's not too expensive and they take in kids just starting out. It's a school if you're really serious about playing," said Tidus.

It was also a school that didn't list Jecht as one of the famous students. Auron thought as much. "Let's see. The Marzano Family School of Blitz..."

The school was founded three generations ago by a guy named Gregor Marzano, a minor league player. Out of some ancient tradition, members of the family had a family name as well as their actual name. It turned out he liked teaching the fundamentals of the sport more than playing it competitively. He started the school with the idea of what a player really needed to succeed and what he'd never been taught.

This sounded like a decent place. Lots of training, building up strength and skills, hardworking. Tidus wouldn't have any room to slack in a place like this. Gregor and his son apparently were highly respected, according to Tidus. The newest family owner was a guy named Ikar Marzano, who'd only taken control in the last year. The brochure promised new techniques layered onto the traditional regimen.

"I think this could work. Looks like there's an introductory period of two months before you can sign up for full time classes."

"Awww man! I can't wait! They got everything there! Swim coaches, breath coaches, tackle coaches..."

"Tackle coaches?" Auron looked curiously at Tidus.

"Well, yeah!" The kid moved around the living room, pretending to duck and dodge invisible attackers. "You have to be able to swim around a lot of people and learn to tackle and pass the ball at the right time!"

"Do you really need to learn that before you learn how practice holding your breath?"

"Auron." At already ten years old, Tidus had mastered the art of the withering stare. "Are you really trying to tell me you know how a blitz player is trained?"

"Watch your mouth." There were many times Auron would have liked to raise his hand to this kid, but he made a promise to himself to never do so. Still, he was certainly tempted to break that vow. "For the record, you know how to play the game, but not how to be trained to play."

"I'll learn! I'll pay attention and not smart off! I really really want to go here, Auron!"

"All right. You can go. But."

"Awwwww!"

"I want you to go for the three-day a week course first."

"But there's classes every afternoon after school! Why can't I go to all of them?"

Auron smiled just a little bit. "I guess you really do want this. If you're learning to train for something, it's better to take it slowly and see how your body will adjust. Once you build strength and skills, we can talk about increasing it."

"Hey, Auron? Is that how you learned how to use your sword? Just a little bit at a time?"

He nodded. "It takes a lot of practice to build up strength. You also have to take time to rest and to think about what you've learned."

Tidus looked thoughtful. "Okay. I'll do it your way." He grinned and it seemed to light the whole room. "You're about the best swordsman there is so maybe you do know what you're talking about."

"Hah! I'm the only swordsman you've ever seen and it's starting to get late. Classes start tomorrow."

* * *

Something wasn't working out with the school. It took Auron several weeks to come to the realization. The problem was Tidus hadn't said a word. In the beginning, Auron heard endless praise and admiration about the school, how strong Tidus was going to get, the other kids being the best in the junior leagues and on and on. After two weeks, the stream of information dried up.

A lot of the blitz schools worked in the same part of Zanarkand so they provided transportation and picked up kids after school. Convenient for both Tidus and Auron. Tidus could go to class and be dropped off at the entrance to the docks and Auron didn't have to take time off from whatever guarding job he happened to be working on. Auron never actually saw a single practice since parents usually showed up to scrimmages and those didn't happen until the kids turned 12.

At first Auron thought it was just the kid realizing his dream was going to take some hard work to accomplish. Nothing wrong with that attitude. Tidus hadn't stopped doing his homework and everything seemed to be working out. The introductory course would end in a week and then the serious training would begin.

The first inkling of trouble came in the refrigerator. Once again, Auron found himself without ice for about the second time that week. He filled a few trays and set them in the freezer. "Tidus!"

"Yeah?" Tidus hopped on one foot trying to get his tennis shoes on for school.

"If you're going to use up the ice, remember to fill the trays!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!"

"Since when did you use so much ice?" A logical question, Auron thought.

It didn't provoke a logical response. Tidus' blue eyes opened wide for a moment. He looked at the clock on the wall. "I gotta hurry up and catch the bus, bye Auron!" And out the door he went.

Annoyed, Auron picked up around the houseboat. Today was a day off. That never meant relaxing. It meant getting everything else done he hadn't been able to do for the rest of the week, like collecting clothes to clean at the communal laundry and buying food.

He pushed open the door to Tidus' room. It looked the same as always – not too dirty, covered in blitzball posters. The kid managed to put all of his dirty laundry in one basket without making him hunt around. Mixed in with the dirt smudged T-shirts and jeans were at least five hand towels. He'd been kind of wondering where they'd all ended up.

The two separate oddities of the morning nagged the back of Auron's mind while he carried the laundry out of the docks and down the street. Only as he sat and waited for his clothes to wash did an answer come to him.

What would you need a lot of ice and a lot of handtowels for? To ice yourself. What would you need to ice yourself for? If you had bruises or some kind of injury.

That made sense to Auron. When first learning the sword, he'd had to take care of so many injuries to his hands and to his side whenever he missed. Tidus could be icing himself because he was just learning the game and a person made mistakes. However, Auron wouldn't have minded giving Tidus some help or at least knowing about it. Why would he hide it?

If Tidus didn't want to tell him about it, there wasn't a whole lot Auron could do. They had an arrangement and it worked out fine. Until now.

What exactly was he supposed to do if acting as he was wasn't going to work?

Auron watched the clothes spinning around in the washer as his thoughts wound around their continued track. What he really needed was advice.

* * *

He never liked the stares he got walking into the adoption center. He had jumped through every hoop they demanded in order for him to gain custody of Tidus. They'd even said it was okay to visit if he ever had any questions about caring for a kid. So in the first few weeks, he'd visited nearly every day. They all gave him the same looks. He couldn't blame them, since he wasn't a part of the dream and the fayth couldn't change things just to give him an easier time.

Over time, he thought less and less about everyone being not quite real. He became more like the story everyone knew him by. Just the Outlander in a place where everything was always Zanarkand. Just the stranger in a uniform land. So they always had to stop and stare.

Fortunately, the person he sought advice from never gave him the evil eye. "Auron, what a surprise! You haven't stopped by this office in ages." Rayan clapped her hands together and smiled. It nearly covered her whole face.

"You're right. I haven't been by in a bit." Auron sat down in the chair across from her desk.

"I take it things have gone well with Tidus then?"

"As well as can be expected. Just...something's come up now and I'm not sure what to do." He explained how his arrangement with Tidus went. Rayan didn't comment or scold him. She never scolded on parental styles because according to her, there were as many styles of parenting as there were parents.

Rayan listened to his story and looked at him thoughtfully. "So you have a hunch that something is wrong and you're asking someone else what you should do?"

Auron sat back in his chair. That was possibly the most politely worded critique on his problem that didn't outright call him stupid. It skirted dangerously close without ever using the word. "Listen, how we do things is..."

"I know how you do things, Auron. But I also see how that's not what's happening anymore." Rayan stood up and leaned against her desk. "If you were just someone to see to Tidus' needs and wants, you wouldn't be in this office. You might not really care that much."

"I...don't think I understand."

"You're genuinely worried about this situation. It means you care about Tidus more than just as an obligation to a friend. You care about him, am I right?"

The all-consuming sorrow of losing his family had faded into a deep, quiet sadness. It never occurred to Auron why it didn't bother him as much. He hadn't wanted to care about anything except the plan. He didn't want to steal away the title of parent from Jecht or his wife. Still, Auron couldn't find the words to argue with the caretaker.

"Sometimes it just takes a little longer for those guardians who adopt older children. Especially if they don't have children of their own. Sooner or later they become parents."

"I'm not...I'm not his parent. He had two of those," Auron said quietly.

"Well, you are his guardian," she said sharply. "And if you're his guardian, it's your job to guard him from harm. Something is wrong with him and if he won't tell you, it's your job to figure out what he isn't telling you. Being a guardian isn't completely like a business arrangement. The adult has to oversee the child and overrule their wants in order to get to the bottom of whatever's going on."

He sat there, unblinking behind his shades and high collar. Someone was telling him it was a part of his job to care. Maybe that's what he needed.

"I'm...I'm sorry I yelled at you, Auron. You came to me for help and all I did was tell you what I thought you were doing wrong."

"No, it's...it's all right." Auron sighed out of his nose and sat up.

"Where are you going?" Rayan asked.

"To see what's wrong," he replied. "Also, I need my sword. Just in case."

* * *

He got a lot of strange looks and several people rushed toward him when he approached the blitzball training school. Auron fished out his special permit that allowed him to carry a sword. It might as well have just said that he knew how to play nice and yes, he was house-trained in the city of Zanarkand, so don't mind the odd looking man with the sword.

People walked inside the huge building with their gear, talking about tactics, breathing, weight training. Huge screens replayed games and inspired plays. It was a world that he didn't belong and it only increased with each step. Yet, he still walked. He wasn't going to let all this swallow up the kid if there was a serious problem.

"Can I help you, sir?" asked one of the teachers. The guy didn't even flinch at Auron or his sword.

"I'm trying to find a training class happening about now. A kid I'm responsible for is a student. Just thought I'd take a little peek in and see how he was doing."

"What's your kid's name?"

"Tidus."

"Ahh, Jecht's boy." The teacher looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Usually we don't like to have the parents stick around for some of the practices. Kids do better if their parents aren't hovering over them. But...I can stick you somewhere out of the way. Just so you can put your mind at ease that we're training him up right."

Good for his word, Auron found himself a shadowed upper tier seating that would be filled to capacity if the training room was open for a real game. Since it was just at training course, the school had a clear elevated tank for people to swim around and practice. A group of kids were standing next to it, maybe waiting to get in.

A tanned man with short hair, swimming shorts and shirt stood facing the kids. He walked up and down the line with some kind of stick or club. Was it a teaching tool? Auron couldn't tell from where he sat.

"None of you are good enough to learn anything the way you are! You're all weak little things who can't even hold your breaths for a minute." The teacher held up his stick and pointed it toward the lineup. "That's why I have to toughen you up. Real blitzball players will eat you alive. You have to learn how to be able to take punishment before I let you jump in that water."

What? What was this guy talking about? Auron knew that part of blitzball training (from what Tidus told him) was being able to handle being tackled. But that usually came years later, once the kids knew how to swim and hold their breath. Then again, he thought he remembered Tidus saying something about a tackle coach in the school.

"Tidus, get up front here. Right over here."

The kids moved apart to make room. Tidus stood with his back against the tank and his arms across his chest.

"Now, now, Tidus, what did I tell you about trying to hide from punishment?" The teacher's tone grew snide. "You're never going to be able to be better than your dear old dad by being a coward."

Tidus sniffled and let down his arms, pressing back against the tank.

"That's a good kid. Be a good example for the rest of the class."

_Whack!_

Auron only heard but couldn't see the club strike Tidus. "See? It's only a few bruises. Live through them and they'll make you stronger."

Dread churned in Auron's gut. Having grown up learning the sword at a young age, he'd had his share of lessons. A lot of them did involve toughening up his body, especially his arms. However his teachers had made it clear what was happening and why it was necessary. Building up resistance took years and that couldn't be done every single day. A body needed a chance to heal to grow strong.

This didn't look like what he knew to be resistance training. This looked like punishment for the sake of punishment. Auron went to the stairwell as quietly as he could. He had to find a door to the main level. What he planned on doing, he had no idea. All he needed to do was get to Tidus and maybe they could sort out whatever was going on.

Stands, stands, stands, main floor! Auron cracked open the door and stepped into a shadowed hall that led up into training area. From his viewpoint, he was only feet away from the class, the tank and the teacher.

Auron had a perfect view of Tidus' bright blue eyes wide with fear, the teacher with the club raised for bashing and the students too scared to do anything but cover their eyes.

He couldn't remember running. He was just there, his hand crushing the teacher's wrist. "I don't think so," Auron growled.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be? How did you get in here!" The teacher yelled at him.

"Auron!" Tidus scrubbed at his eyes and held an arm over his belly.

"Auron, hunh? The guardian for Jecht's brat? I'm sorry but you're interrupting my class right now."

"I'm not sorry." With one motion he wrenched the club from the teacher's hand and threw it across the floor. "You've got some extreme teaching methods for 10 year olds."

"I think there's been some mistake." The teacher, taller Auron, looked down at him, smiling slightly. "I'm not sure how much you know about blitzball, Auron, but it's a high contact sport. There's tackling, stealing, sliding, all kinds of body collision. You aren't going to get very far in the sport if you can't learn to take a few hits."

Somehow in the conversation, Auron walked around the teacher, putting himself between him and the children. The kids took advantage of that by all congregating behind Auron. He felt a little hand grab onto his coat.

"There's a difference between training and what you're doing."

"And what exactly do you think I'm doing?" The teacher looked amused.

"Attacking people much smaller than you who can't defend themselves." Auron gently pried away the hand from his coat. He grabbed onto his sword, strapped to his back. He heard the kids step back to give him room. "What's your teacher's name?" he asked to the crowd at his back.

"Ikar Marzano," piped up a girl.

"What difference does it make what my name is?" asked Ikar, retrieving his club.

"A big one." Auron watched him carefully. "You're the owner of this school. You've watched your grandfather and father train kids. I would think you'd be more responsible. Looks like I was wrong."

He'd meant it as just a chastisement. Ikar took it as a personal challenge, stalking toward him with the club. "This is _my _school and I will run _my _school the way I see fit and not be compared to _anyone else!_" he screamed.

Auron whipped the sword from his back and leveled it at the teacher. The point rested a few inches from his face. "You really want to try that against someone who can defend himself?" He lowered his voice to a growl. "Get out."

"You can't tell me what to do! This is my school!"

"_GET OUT!"_ he roared.

Whatever Ikar took from his voice or saw in his face, he dropped his club. He first backpedaled then ran out of the training room.

For several long moments, Auron held his sword in the same position, arm shaking with adrenaline. When he got his breathing under control, he slipped the big blade behind his back. Well. Crap. What was he supposed to do now? That could not have been the most intelligent response to what he saw.

"You saved us!"

Auron turned around and fifteen kids gazed up at him with admiration. They also looked at him as though waiting for him to tell them what to do. _Fayth. _Well, if he accused the teacher of not being responsible, then he'd have to do the opposite. "I'm not gonna hurt any of you. None of you are going to get in trouble."

"Even I'm not going to get in trouble?" Tidus asked. He sniffled and fought off tears.

That place in his chest where Auron swore couldn't exist anymore clenched. "No, you're not going to get in trouble, Tidus. I promise."

"So what's going to happen?" one of the kids asked.

"First, we're all going to leave this room and we're going to talk to some of the people in charge. Then everyone will get to call their parents and everyone can talk about what happened in this class. We'll get it all straightened out." Auron had no idea where all these ideas were coming from. He knew, however, he better deliver on all these promises and make them happen.

The one-sided screaming match out in the main floor became one of the legends of blitzball. Auron listened to the teacher call him every filthy name in the book and when Ikar finally ran down, the children started up with their stories. The more they talked, the more Ikar backed down. At the end of all the stories, when parents and police had showed up, Auron slipped off his shades and took one step toward Ikar. The other man backed away.

The entire school lay silent so everyone heard Auron's words. "If I ever hear you raising a hand to another child, I will find you no matter where you hide in Zanarkand. So I suggest you lead a better life from here on."

* * *

After a quick trip to a clinic to check out Tidus, the two went back to the houseboat. Tidus lay on a couch with a few bags of ice on his new bruises. He looked a little drowsy thanks to the painkillers from the clinic. Auron sat on a chair beside the couch.

"I called the school. I told them you'd be out for the rest of the week."

"What?" The news startled Tidus so much he sat up. A bag of ice slipped to the floor.

Auron put a hand on Tidus' shoulder to get him to lay back down. "You heard me. You can stay home for the rest of the week."

"But I'm not that sick or hurt," Tidus said.

"Well, let's just say I want you to stay at home so I can make sure." Auron picked up the bag of ice and put it back on Tidus' chest.

Thankfully Tidus really wasn't that badly hurt according to the doctor at the clinic. Just a few painful bruises. Ikar must have been skilled enough at "chastising" his students to not break any bones. Their spirits now? Another story entirely. The police and several blitzball associations were going to have a field day with that school. Auron wouldn't be surprised if the school went out of business.

"I really don't have to go to school?" Trust a kid to latch onto that part.

"Really. I promise."

"Okay." Tidus snuggled under the blankets.

"I do have a question for you. Like I said before you're not going to get in any trouble but I want an honest answer. Tidus, why didn't you tell me what was going on?" Auron already felt like a huge failure for not catching onto a problem sooner. He didn't want the situation to permanently wreck something in the kid.

"I...I don't know. Just...stuff." Tidus looked away.

"Explain the 'stuff' to me, Tidus. Even if you don't think it makes any sense, I want to hear it. All right?" He had to fix this and make it up to Tidus. He had to do a better job of being...whatever he was to this kid.

"Well, you said that training was going to be hard so I just wanted to be able to take it. They had real players walking through the school all the time so I heard some stories. It sounded like they all had to go through hard stuff to get to be good players so I thought getting bruised was part of the hard stuff."

"Can I interrupt for a second?"

"Um, okay Auron." Tidus sat up and drew his knees to his chin.

"There's a difference between pushing yourself for training and what was happening to you. When that teacher was using that stick, did he tell you why he was doing it?"

Tidus shook his head. "No. Just that we had to be tough. I didn't...I didn't like it."

"I can't imagine anyone would," Auron said.

"But he said...he said I had to be able to take it or I'd never be as good as my dad. And I hate that! I'm not doing everything to follow him! It's because I want to do it and do it my way!" Tidus sniffed and scrubbed at his eyes. "Then the teacher said that I wasn't doing anything good enough and if I couldn't do anything good enough, I'd have to quit. I know you said that you didn't care what I did but I don't want to quit! I really want to play, Auron. I really _really _want to blitz."

"So...you didn't tell me because I might pull you out of the school and that would be like quitting."

"Yeah." Angrily, he kept scrubbing at his eyes.

Auron pulled a few tissues from a box and handed them over. "Let me tell you something. Learning something like blitzball is going to take time and you're right, it is going to be very hard. It's not something you can just accomplish right away. It's something you have to take in very small steps and you learn to master those steps."

"Is...is that how you learned to use a sword?"

"That's right. When you start, it's just about learning to stand properly. If you can't do that much right, you won't be able to use a sword."

"What about getting hit and stuff?"

"There was a lot of that. But like I said, there's a difference between training for that and for a teacher to just belt you, which is what I saw him doing."

"Oh. How am I supposed to know the difference?" Tidus pulled the blankets closer to him.

"You can ask me. You can also ask another teacher."

"So...is it my fault this happened? Because I didn't ask?"

Just the tone Tidus asked the question hurt Auron in his chest. "No. It's not your fault at all. It's the teacher's fault and I'll tell you why."

Tidus blew his nose into a tissue and waited.

"When you teach someone, you're responsible for showing them how to learn something. A teacher should explain what he's doing so the student understands and can do whatever is it themselves. But if a teacher doesn't explain himself or herself well enough and the student doesn't understand, you can ask questions so you do understand. That's your right."

"It is?"

"That's right." Auron's mouth formed a grim line as he paused. "What Ikar did was abuse the trust of a teacher to a student. A teacher knows more than the student. That's kind of the point. If a teacher uses that knowledge to deliberately confuse or hurt their students and then blame the problem on them, that's very wrong."

"Ohhhhhh. I think I get it." Tidus sniffed and played with the edge of the blanket.

"Good. Now, what's some of the other 'stuff' you were talking about?"

"I just...I just...I just wanted you to be proud of me."

Auron grew very still. "What?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"I mean..." Tidus looked up at Auron with his blue blue eyes. Words started pouring out of him. "You got that huge sword and you don't look like anyone else here and you're an Outlander and none of them ever show up here and everyone knows that Outlanders aren't afraid of anything! You know how to fight and I bet you fought all kinds of people because you lost your eye that way and nothing can stop you 'cause you're a like a rock nobody can move that's what everyone says!

"Everyone was all like you have to do well 'cause Auron is like your parent now and you don't want to make him feel bad. But I didn't want to tell 'cause if I did, maybe you'd turn into my parent and I don't want you to start acting like my dad!"

"Wait, wait, wait. Why would I act like your dad? We're two different people."

"I don't know! But my dad was my dad and I hate him 'cause he didn't want to show me stuff or he'd laugh and say that I wasn't trying hard enough. If I told you what happened, maybe you'd say the same thing to me! Then I'd have to hate you too and I don't want to hate you! But I still wanted you to be proud of me but not turn into my parent."

Although very backward in concept, Auron almost understood Tidus' thought process. He sighed with a harsh edge. He slipped off his shades to rub his forehead.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

Not for the first time and probably not for the last time Auron thought Jecht truly screwed up in being a parent. It was a shame Tidus didn't know the kind of person his dad was now as opposed to the terrible memories that filled his past.

"All right. Let me see if I understand. You want me to be proud of you but you're afraid that if I am, I'll become a parent. Because I become like your parent then I'll start acting like your dad and you don't want that."

Tidus nodded. "Yeah! I knew you'd get it!"

"Well...what if I'm your guardian instead?"

"Isn't that what you are already?"

"Maybe, but I haven't been doing a good job of it. So let's change it right now." Auron slipped his shades back on. "A guardian is someone who watches out for you. He takes care of you and makes sure you have a place to live and food to eat. But it's more than that. What do you think a guardian should do besides that, Tidus?"

They hammered out a few guidelines for the definition of guardian. Someone to help answer things, to not yell (too much) if he did things wrong. To help him understand how to be better but to also let him make mistakes because he wouldn't learn if Auron constantly swooped in to save him. To be firm but fair. To help Tidus succeed in his dream of being a blitzball player in the ways only Auron could.

"I can live with this list," Auron said. "You skipped one thing though."

"What's that?"

"Even if I don't say it and if I forget to show it, I am proud of you, Tidus. There's more strength in you than Ikar will ever have for the rest of his life."

"R-really?"

"Yes, really."

Startled, Auron froze as Tidus leaned toward him and put his little arms around his waist, tucking his head into Auron's chest. Maybe his heart wasn't as frozen over as he thought. Auron put a hand on Tidus' head and softly, tentatively ruffled his hair.

"Tomorrow. We'll look for a new school. You and me."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. We'll walk all over Zanarkand. We'll study everything we see, make a list and once we look them all over, we pick the best school. Promise."

Tidus let go and looked up at Auron, grinning. "Yeah! We'll find a better place! And once I'm famous, that other school will be sorry they messed with you!"

Auron chuckled. "I'm sure Ikar's feeling that right now. Now go to sleep. We'll have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Okay. Can I stay right here?"

"Mmhmm."

"Can you read me a story?"

Never mind that Tidus could read his own books if he wanted. The fact he wanted Auron to read to him filled him with a quiet kind of happiness.

"I don't remember that being a part of a guardian's duties but...I think I can manage a story for you."


End file.
